DJIA Week in Review: Kraft Switches to NASDAQ, Home Depot Reaffirms

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Pepsi (NYSE:PEP), Monster (NASDAQ:MNST) and Dr. Pepper Snapple (NYSE:DPS) are beverage companies that Wells Fargo covers for investors, and following channel checks with tens of thousands of convenience stores in the United States, the analysts expect that they will all report ‘solid second quarter results’. In a note to investors, Wells says that beverage sales were apparently quite strong over the Memorial Day weekend, with 90 percent of survey respondents saying that their sales were up year-to-year, and 60 percent reporting that their sales increased by 5 percent or more. Additionally, 91 percent of those surveyed said that their sales have risen, so far in the second quarter.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is withdrawing from the race to acquire Amylin (NASDAQ:AMLN), according to an inside source to Bloomberg. Bristol-Myers (NYSE:BMY), AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN), Merck (NYSE:MRK), and Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) have all made first-round proposals, however, and the bids are said to value the drugmaker in ranges of $25 to $29 per share, or approximately $4.1 billion to $4.7 billion.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG), along with Ford (NYSE:F), NIKE (NYSE:NKE), H.J. Heinz (NYSE:H), and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), report the creation of the Plant PET Technology Collaborative, which will be a strategic working group that concentrates upon quickening the development and utilization of 100 percent plant-based PET materials and fiber in their products.

Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA), and peers Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC), will be significantly impacted by the $50 billion in new defense cuts at the beginning of 2013, and will likely need to lay off thousands of workers in response.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX): Oil stocks rose for a third straight day, owing to both lower stockpiles, and signs of improvement in the U.S. economy, according to Bloomberg. Inventories of crude fell by 1.8 million barrels to 384.1 million, says the American Petroleum Institute, and West Texas Intermediate futures rose by approximately 1.3 percent.

EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE:DD) reports that “developing Europe” comprises around 15 percent of its revenue base, and that Latin America “held up fairly well for us” in the first quarter, but signs of slowing are being seen there now.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT): Slumping worldwide economic conditions and a marked drop in the feature phone market, causes the forecasts for the global mobile phone market to grow a bit more that 4 percent year-over-year in the current year, which would be the smallest yearly rate since 2009, according to the International Data Corporation. However, Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile will add market share even with the slow start, and the IDC expects it to be the number 2 operating system with more than a 19 percent share in 2016, providing that Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) position in emerging markets continues.

United Technologies Corporation’s (NYSE:UTX) former Vice President of Finance of United Technologies Corporation Kenneth S. Parks is joining WESCO (NYSE:WCC) as Vice President and CFO. Parks was VP over UTX’ Fire and Security unit from April 2008 to February 2012, and served as that company’s Director of Investor Relations from 2005 until April 2008. Stephen A. Van Oss, who had the position of Senior Vice President, COO and as interim CFO at WESCO since February 2012, will remain Senior Vice President and COO.

JPMorgan Chase & Company’s (NYSE:JPM) CIO unit that suffered the multi-billion trading losses, is being investigated by examiners with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, as to whether the company provided adequate information regarding its trading activities that preceded the disclosure of the losses, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

3M Co. (NYSE:MMM): Harris & Harris (NASDAQ:TINY), which is a large shareholder in private equity Nanosys, says that the firm and the Optical Systems Division of 3M are reporting the creation of a collaboration to commercialize Nanosys’ Quantum Dot Enhancement Film technology, or ODEF. The latter supplants a similar film that is already found inside LCD backlights, which indicates that the addition of QDEF to manufacturing processes should not necessitate new equipment or process changes for the LCD manufacturer.

Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE:DIS) efforts in Asia will be boosted by the definitive agreement announced on Wednesday, under which a division of News Corporation will acquire ESPN’s 50 percent equity stake in ESPN STAR Sports, or ESS. Under the terms of the deal, News Corp units will be allowed to own and operate the entirety of the ESS divisions while at the same time giving ESPN more independence and flexibility in future support of The Walt Disney company’s expolits in Asia.

General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) intends to double its gas and oil division in the Asia-Pacific region in a three to five year time frame, according to Bloomberg. The plan will be spearheaded by approximately $40 billion in projects in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) will reveal details of progress in its top strategic priorities and long-term financial targets, at its 2012 Investor and Analyst Conference, which commences at 9am ET Wednesday. In its presentation, HD will feature an update on its four areas of strategic concentration: customer service; product authority; disciplined capital allocation, productivity and efficiency; and interconnected retail.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman told AllThingsD that she imagines no scenario in which her company would sell off a portion of its operations, because they fit together so well. The CEO also remarked that H-P will be producing a version of HP-UX to suit Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) mainstream Xeon server chip and that she’d like to see HP cooperate again with Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) once their legal battles are finalized.

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) announces a first quarter loss from continuing operations at $376 million, and an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $133 million, with operating income of $43 million.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ): The creative designs for many recent ultrabooks could be changing the form factor in the computer industry and also reconfiguring the relationships between brand sellers, system makers, and component vendors, reports Digitimes.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Motorola (NASDAQ:GOOG) see their requests for summary judgment in their two-year dispute denied by a judge in Seattle. A deadline of November 19th has been set for a voluntary resolution of the license agreement issue, and the matter will go to trial if it remains unsettled by that date.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) will supply details of a proposed a potential initial public offering of a minority ownership stake in Animal Health, in its second quarter 2012 earnings report. Efforts to file a registration statement in the United States for the IPO are ongoing; the current AH unit will remain being counted as a continuing operation for Pfizer’s financial reporting purposes, and the name for the new company will be Zoetis.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Chief Marketing Officer Mike Ritter confirms the looming price rise for the new tiers of FiOS broadband services, but says that additional flexibility might result in some customers paying lower monthly charges, according to a CNet report. The new prices concerning the tiers of service will be announced later in June.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) CEO Joel Anderson says that overall sales are receiving a lift from its Pay with Cash, which was introduced in late April. The system enables shoppers to order on the company’s Web site and then pay in a store within 48 hours, according to Reuters. Anderson’s comments were made at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, where he added that Pay with Cash now accounts for almost 2 percent of all online orders, and that the magnitude of the Pay with Cash orders is 50 percent larger than the average online order. In addition, the CEO remarked that Wal-Mart has seen a “double digit” rise in conversion from its new search engine on its Web site.

Bank of America Corporation’s (NYSE:BAC) former lead attorney Tim Mayopoulos, who is Fannie Mae’s (FNMA) new CEO, will recuse himself in all cases that concern BAC, according to HousingWire. Instead, Mayoploulos confirms that a team of top Fannie Mae executives will make the decisions concerning the buyback issues between the GSE and Bank of America.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) is among the oil firms which are looking into allegations of improper payments to Kazakhastan officials, says the Wall Street Journal. Also investigating the matter are Eni SpA (NYSE:E), and Lukoil (LUKOY). The situation arose when an anonymous email charged that Deutsche Post and the Kazakhastan Post Office authorized regular cash payments to custom officials in Aksai.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) reports that it has set a 28-day hiatus on selling its DVDs to rental outlets which include Redbox (NASDAQ:CSTR), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Blockbuster (NASDAQ:DISH), following their launch. However, a spokeswoman for Redbox says that the company will use the same sort of alternate sourcing strategy that it employed with Warner Bros. (NYSE:TWX) at the time of the release of Disney’s John Carter, according to The Los Angeles Times.

General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) Healthcare has reached an agreement to partner with Affibody AB in collaboration on the development of a Her2-targeted PET imaging agent, which is supposed to begin clinical trials later in 2012. Future clinical evaluations will explore the confirmation of Her2 status in patients suffering breast cancer recurrence, and will determine if Her2 status changes over time, monitor therapy of patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving anti-Her2 treatments, and help settle the status of indeterminate Her2 tests.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) warns that continuing worldwide economic volatility, austerity measures in Europe, and its own increased general and administrative costs will significantly impact its second quarter results. Further, at the current exchange rates, foreign currency translation is estimated to pressure its second quarter earnings per share in a range of 7 to 9 cents.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT): A large reconfiguration at Twitter has divided the business into three areas: Consumer, growth and international, and revenue (or advertising), according to AllThingsD. Othman Laraki is name the VP of growth and international product and Michael Sippey will lead consumer products; the advertising products spot remains unfilled.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX): Rolls-Royce (RYCEY) intends to purchase the 50 percent of shares outstanding in Aero Engine Controls, which is a joint venture with Goodrich Corporation (NYSE:GR). AEC was founded in January 2009, for the purpose of integrating the engine controls businesses of the two firms. The acquisition of the previously shares in AEC by Rolls-Royce will only go forward once the purchase of Goodrich by UTC is finalized and once any necessary antitrust approvals are obtained. In addition, this deal will not materially affect Rolls-Royce on its 2012 financial performance.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM): Slowing economies in China and in the United States are causing oil futures in New York to drop some 3.3 percent Friday, making this the longest such run in weekly losses in 13 years, according to Bloomberg.

Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA): Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D – NV) says that two items included in a previous Senate bill should be employed to obtain the revenue needed to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling, reports The Washington Post. The measures were included in a highway bill that passed the Senate but is blocked by Republicans in the House, and would decrease the number of tax deductions that businesses may take on their pension liabilities, but raise the premiums that companies pay for federal pension. The report adds that a spokesman for Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said his party would study the proposal.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC): A couple of non-profit groups have found that banks have significantly raised their overdraft charges on checking accounts during the past two years, according to a Washington Post report. In 2009, the Fed told banks to keep their customers posted on their overdraft fees, but often such disclosure statements have been ambiguous and hard to follow, say the groups.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT): China Daily is reporting that China will modify its trade tariffs, plus supply monetary incentives, in order to increase its imports. This word comes from the Vice Premier.

EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE:DD) will acquire the assets of BAE Systems (BAESY), that comprise its BAE Systems Tensylon High Performance Materials business, for a cash consideration of $18 million. The unit develops and produces a protective material trademarked Tensylon, which possesses both ballistic armour and commercial applications. This transaction should close in the third quarter.

Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE:DIS) 28-day hiatus on its recent releases, such as John Carter, will not be honored by Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), and its rival Redbox (NASDAQ:CSTR). The Los Angeles Times reports that the DVD retailers want to offer the products sooner than the studio would prefer, and that Disney and Netflix have not been able to resolve their dispute over the matter. Further, it’s said that Disney wanted better terms than its competitors.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is depending upon facial-recognition tech for targeted ads and a number of entertainment dealmakers, to draw media partners to its new virtual television service, according to a Reuters report, but the top media content suppliers seem reluctant to allow the company to unbundle and license specific networks and shows at a lower price than what cable and satellite partners pay.

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:KFT) says that on June 26th, its shares will be listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ:NDAQ), and no longer on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:NYX). Following the transfer, the ticker symbol will remain KFT.